| For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. | For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. |
| This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. | This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. |
|
| Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. | So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. |
| For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. | For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. |
| Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. | Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. |
| That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. | That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. |
| You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed. | And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. |
| Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. | Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. |
| Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. | Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. |
| Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.” | Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” |
| You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. | You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. |
| But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles. | Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come— that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. |
| From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” | From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” |
| This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. | This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts. |
| Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. | And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. |
| You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. | How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house. |
| Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. | Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. |
| Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. | Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. |
| The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. | The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. |
| So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? | Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? |
| The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. | Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. |
| All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). | So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” |
